How can I place a phone call programmatically from a Mac app? - macos

With the advent of handoff/continuity in OS X Yosemite, I was hoping there would be an API for this. I can't find one Googling. Alternatively, is there a way to open designated phone call making app like Skype to place a call? I've seen links on web pages to phone numbers that auto-open my Skype app. Is that the way to do it - with some HTML embedded in my Mac app?

You can use the same "tel:5555555555" URL syntax that you use on mobile platforms. So, for example to call the number 5555555555 you can do:
if let url = NSURL(string: "tel:5555555555") {
NSWorkspace.sharedWorkspace().openURL(url)
}

Related

Windows Phone 8 maps uri scheme

I'm developing a windows phone app and want to show the maps app. I know about the uri scheme's ms-drive-to, ms-walk-to and the HERE equivalents, but I don't want navigation. I also don't want to rely on HERE maps, because someone might not have installed that one. The question:
Is there a way of opening the default Map app on windows phone 8?
You could use the MapsTask API;
MapsTask mapsTask = new MapsTask();
//Omit the Center property to use the user's current location.
//mapsTask.Center = new GeoCoordinate(47.6204, -122.3493);
mapsTask.ZoomLevel = 2;
mapsTask.Show();
You should check the sdk.
If you really want to open the apps, you can do it with a trick. Add a brower task an follow steps of this article.

Unity send SMS message

I'm currently using Unity for developing an application for Android and IOS and I'm able to use the function: Application.OpenURL("mailto:" + email_address + "?subject=Email&body=msg from Unity");
to send emails from within my application, and I know you can use a similar function to open up the mobile devices SMS system however I'm unsure on how to actually go about this.
If anyone can please advise how I can open up the native SMS system through "Application.OpenURL()" that'd be fantastic. I'm also open to using an alternative solution if anyone's aware.
You can use a variety of OpenURL commands to open up numerous apps in iOS. Android has a comparable nomenclature too. Of course I don't know if below will work in Android but it's worth a shot.
var sms_number : String = "+17032129831"
Application.OpenURL("sms:" + sms_number);

Buying iTunes content from desktop app

I have a desktop application running on OS X and Windows. I'd like users to be able to buy iTunes content from within the app, and I'd like to earn via the affiliate program.
Is this allowed, and if so, how do I do it? The documentation states:
The use of the affiliate program inside apps is perfectly acceptable
and in fact encouraged behavior for app developers.
but it's not clear if this only applies to iOS apps, or desktop apps, too. Furthermore, I don't know how to pull it of in practice: It seems I am supposed to open a certain URL*. I believe on iOS, this is intercepted, and the user is taken to the App Store. On OS X (or Windows), it seems that this would flash a browser window before opening iTunes, which I'd like to avoid. I'd like to directly open iTunes with the purchase option. Or do I have to embed a browser frame in my app and use some kind of web interface?
*) There is some redirecting, and I can improve the user experience with 'short links', or by handling the redirection manually in the background, but in the end there is always an openURL call.
www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/
the program applies to most content types, links can be on a website or within an app. essentially anywhere a iTunes store is: Mac: iTunes and Mac App Store. and on iOS: app store, itunes store and iBookstore. and Win: Itunes Store.

Offer to open url in app instead of IE in WP7?

I have an app that displays news stories for a publication. If a user opens a story on their phone in IE, I would like to offer an option to open it in the newsreader app instead. Is it possible to hook into IE somehow to do this? Or perhaps display a link on the website that the phone knows how to translate into an app?
Unfortunately it is not possible to hook your application to IE. The OS only provides this functionality to some special apps (ie. YouTube). Launching apps from IE is not possible.
You can use a WebBrowser control for doing this.
Since you're displaying news stories I'm assuming your app is going to download these from some website. To do this you can create a WebClient and use the DownloadStringAsync method to fetch the story. In the DownloadStringCompleted event handler load the web page using WebClient.NavigateToString.

Open Windows Phone 7 App from URL

I need to launch my WP7 application from the phone's browser and pass some arguments. For example, the following url would be a link on an html page. Clicking the link would start my application. iPhone and Android both have these capabilites by the name of 'url schemes'.
appName://my.arguments.here
How can I accomplish this on WP7?
Thanks!
Unfortunately there is currently no support for "url schemes" or custom URL handlers that will allow you to handle these requests from within your application.
It is possible to integrate with the search application, which can provide deep linking into your application. It also appears that YouTube has some kind of way of doing it, as the mobile version of their site will jump to the app for playback of videos.
You should use the protocol activation feature of Windows Store apps - see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh452686.aspx

Resources